Housing Bubble, credit bubble, public planning, land use, zoning and transportation in the exurban environment. Specific criticism of smart growth, neotradtional, forms based, new urbanism and other top down planner schemes to increase urban extent and density. Ventura County, California specific examples.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Because That's Where They Keep The Money

The plan would affect cities, counties, towns and some other local districts. Under a ballot measure passed in 2004, the state would be required to repay the money in three years with interest.The 8 percent loss would come as local agencies are already cutting police, public works, parks and other services.The League of California Cities alerted local leaders to the proposal last week. Chris McKenzie, the league's executive director, called the borrowing plan irresponsible, saying it would make more public safety cuts likely because local governments are already burdened with cutbacks. The league is urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reject the idea.

My kids will be paying for California state employees for decades. Not one word, Golden Shower Staters, about not getting back as much as you pay into the Federal system. Just shut yer pieholes. For years we have subsidized your housing bubble via the mortgage interest deduction scam, now we will subsidize your government bubble.

What is it with you people and the working man? Is it such a crime to work for a living and expect things like a decent salary and a retirement plan -- even if you work for the state? There are so few other jobs that have not gone to contract labor or outsourcing. Why the hostility, Lou?

I do not understand why pay for government jobs is not based on the number of qualified applicants. If you have lots of people applying for the job the pay goes down. If nobody is applying then the pay goes up.

Lost Cause,

Not hostility, frustration. Looking at teachers since they account for half of the state spending we see taht in Ventura County the average teacher makes the county median family income. On top of that they get generous benefits and time off. Then add in the pension and medical for life and they are getting paid better than most folks in the private sector.

So is it any suprise that when the state is broke, taxes are about the highest in the nation and the government will not balance it's spending with it's current income people get a little hostile? Most people just want the state to live within it's current means and not perpetually ask for more and more taxes.

Lost Cause, the frustration is not with the employees as much as it is with the government and union officials who set these plans up. They are shameless, egregious giveaways where the government has made huge promises in pension benefits that will inevitably have to be paid for by the next generation. It was vote-buying, plain and simple, where politicians promised other peoples' money (in this case, "other people" being the next generation) to buy the support of state employees. They knew that current salaries would have to come out of current revenues, so they hid the vote-buying in future benefits, specifically pensions.

And it should be noted that, in many cases, not even current government employees get as good a deal as government retirees are now getting. In my agency, as in many others, there are two retirement plans--one with a very generous percentage-of-final-salary pension, the other being the equivalent of a 401(k), only with lousy investment options. Which plan you get depends on when you started working for the government--not surprisingly, it's Boomers who get the sweetheart deal while the younger generation is effectively on their own.

None of that is the working man's fault, but it doesn't change the fact that it absolutely stinks. It's a system that rewards playing safe and does nothing to discourage mediocrity--just fill out the paperwork and keep your nose clean until you're 55, and then you're set for however long you live after that, regardless of what you have or have not done for the state or for the nation. It's a rotten system and it needs to change, and I see absolutely no reason why the system should be protected from renegotiation, or resolution in bankruptcy court if necessary.

tj, it's funny that the businesses who follow the state paradigm for "decent income and retirement plans" are all wards of the federal government while their domestically based foreign competition eats their lunch.

What are the CA public employee union members going to do when they have their benefits cut?

A)Quit and become mortgage brokersB)Go into constructionC)Open a small businessD)Bitch, whine and go to work like usual

Mayor Villaraigosa wants council to declare emergency and calls for layoffs1:36 PM | May 12, 2009

Citing a $529-million budget deficit, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged the City Council on Tuesday to declare a fiscal emergency and called for mandatory work furloughs and layoffs targeting 1,000 city employees.